Thursday 12 May 2011

The Bamboo Forest

Our main attractions today were the Bamboo Forest and the Togetsukyo Bridge.

The bamboo forest was very nice, there is just something about bamboo that makes it look incredible. Unfortunately though, you couldn't actually walk through the trees, as you were confined to the path.
From the bamboo forest, we found a small path off that led down some stairs to a river

We followed the river, seeing its sights, until we came to a bridge.
The bridge offered an impressive view. These photos do not capture the vastness of the mountains or the river, but provide a glimpse of their scale.
While there, we were waylaid by Japanese students; apparently a class from a town near Mt. Fuji had an English assignment where they had to speak with some foreigners. They all read from the same script, asking for a signature, picture, and to exchange for some foreign coins. Me and Matt probably were each asked by a dozen different people, while Bram was probably mistaken for a Japanese person himself, and was asked by less than half that number.

By the end of it, we were quite eager to get out of there, taking a different route back so as not to double back through the "danger zone" where they all seemed to be around.

Later, we tried to go to Toei Movie Land, a recreated feudal Japanese village used primarily for Japanese Samurai drama shows and movies; however when we got there, it was only 40 minutes to close, and with a 2200 yen entry fee, we decided it wasn't worth it, so we'd try to come back some other time.
The outside of the entrance to Toei.

Afterwards, we were exploring some shops, when inside a book store, I met an older Japanese man who spoke surprisingly good English. He asked me a few questions about Canadian politics, and then asked me to proofread a dictionary entry he was making. He was definitely an interesting person, and I was able to clarify the entry he was asking me about (for the Japanese word fujun).

It was an interesting day today, and the rain has finally relented, so we should be starting our day trips to other cities as of tomorrow.

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